A Rose Engraved Door
by Laura x Tennant
Summary: Once you've gotten over your disbelief that I have written a Martha story, you may like to note that it's very Ten/Rose-ified. Definitely not Martha/Ten.  This is Martha finding out everything about Rose, simply through a trip beyond a rose engraved door.
1. Chapter 1

**A Rose Engraved Door**

_Just how special was Rose Tyler? What did she look like? How old was she? What was she like? Just what did she mean to the Doctor? Was she just another in a long line? Or was she different? Did she mean more? Why did she leave him? __**Did **__she leave him? From the way he talks about her, it's hardly imaginable that __**he**__ left __**her.**__ But why isn't she here now?_

_Is she coming back?_

_Ever?_

_Should Martha even hope for more, when it's obvious she can't replace the one that came before, the one that got away?_

_Today is the day she finds out the answers to these questions. And more._

_..._

She stumbled across it quite by accident. Seriously, she did. Honest!

Okay. Maybe not.

He mentioned her, you see. A lot. Without realising, mostly. And when she questioned him about her, he'd freeze; his eyes becoming cold and hard, his voice barely more than a whisper as he shook away her inquisition.

Martha reckoned, once upon a time, that the reason he couldn't talk about her was because she'd left him, and it hurt him too much. He'd told her this much: that Rose was alive and with her family. Safe. So Martha had assumed that one day when she was travelling with him, his friend had decided to leave, and packed up her stuff and walked out of his life. Maybe she told him she never wanted to see him again, or something. Maybe that was why he spoke of her like he'd never see her again. He'd been rejected by his friend, and was lonely, perhaps.

Once she found her room, Martha knew that she couldn't have been more wrong.

She'd been looking for it, really, she knew that. He'd mentioned her so many times that she wanted to know who Rose had been, what she had looked like, how amazing a person she must've come across, for him to say her name with such reverence and pride that he did, despite all his hurt. How extraordinary she must have been.

How _special_ she must've been for the Doctor to care about her so deeply in the first place.

And where was the only place she could get a feel for all of that, seeing as the Doctor wouldn't tell her?

Rose's bedroom.

So Martha had stalked the corridors one day, having declared to an indifferent Doctor that she wanted some time alone, and she spent hours searching for it. She thought, seeing as the TARDIS was apparently alive or something, according to the Doctor anyway, that the least the ship could do was move the rooms around a bit to let her find it easily, like it did when she needed a glass of water and the TARDIS moved the kitchen closer to her room.

(Those thoughts alone had made the TARDIS decidedly sure that she had made the right choice in leaving Martha to find it herself. Rose's room shouldn't be found easily by a woman who never knew her and had so many preconceived notions and often feelings of a jealous and bitter nature towards her. A woman who didn't quite believe that the TARDIS was really alive, and rolled her eyes when the Doctor referred to her as a 'she.' A woman who expected so much from the Doctor when in reality, he could never give her much more than some exciting, terrifying adventures and occasionally a hand to hold. A woman who could never replace her predecessor because the harsh truth was: the Doctor didn't love her like he loved Rose.)

She opened door after door after door, finding rooms she never knew existed, with a variety of different functions. The swimming pool, for one. She'd also found many, many bedrooms. She felt a bit sick, actually, knowing how many people have lived here before her. Not selfishly, with jealousy, however – she genuinely felt sick to think of the Doctor _losing _so many people. There must've been at least twenty-five rooms, maybe thirty, all with a few personal belongings, some clothes and very little knickknacks, sometimes a book or diary, inside. A single bed, or in some rooms, twin beds, where maybe some companions had shared; a wardrobe, barely used; occasionally a mirror or a painting hanging on the wall. Martha took in the way the rooms were so neat and tidy, as if after each occupant had left, the room had tidied itself to appear as though no one was returning, or indeed ever truly there. She'd viewed each room carefully, looking for some sort of sense that it could have been Rose's, but often there were other peoples' names written on aforementioned knickknacks or inside covers of books. Nothing indicated that Rose had slept or lived in one of them.

But then...

Finally, Martha found it. Well, she found a white door, and it had a pink rose engraved on it, so she assumed this _could _be hers. You know, seeing as it had her namesake on it. And, whereas the other rooms had all been near each other, a row of doors, this door was situated with one other door only; side by side at the end of a lonely corridor.

Oh.

_Oh._

She suddenly had a horrible feeling that she knew which room the other door led to.

She swallowed thickly and turned the handle of the white, rose-engraved door. It was locked; she couldn't get in. The door would not budge. This more or less confirmed her suspicions that it was Rose's room.

"Damn," Martha muttered, frustrated that her tour around the TARDIS had been for nothing. Her eyes flickered to the other door in contemplation. "No," she told herself, shaking her head. "_No._"

She turned to walk back up the corridor she'd walked down, but paused. She couldn't resist. She took a deep breath, turned back to face the other door, and stepped purposefully towards it. Her hand was on the handle, she turned it, and the door opened an inch, and she was about to push it open with delight when she heard someone cough meaningfully behind her.

...

**To be continued...**

**A/N: Hiya! Hey look – a Martha fic! First time for everything :D (Ok, so fine, it's basically a Doctor/Rose shippy fic in disguise, but hey ho...well, this is Martha's perspective...) Anyways, what do you think so far? Just to make it clear, I'm not in any way going to be deliberately 'Martha-bashing' in this story, even if at some points it may read that way. So, glad if that pleases you; sorry if that disappoints lol. I don't particularly think Martha was a great character to start of with in series 3, but she became sort of brilliant in her own way further down the line, I think. So this is her discovering about just what his feelings for Rose were (ARE! *_ahem_*) and how I personally think she should have reacted.**

**Please drop a review :)**

**Love Laura x**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello again :D So, it looks like I shocked you lot with the fact that I've begun a Martha story lol. But seriously, you have nothing to fear - if I wrote a 10/Martha fic, as in, god forbid, _romance, _I'd spontaneously combust or something on the spot. It would be all kinds of wrong to do that (considering the fact that it's CANON that a. Martha's love for him was unrequited, and b. the Doctor missed Rose because c. He loves Rose more than anything.) So this is purely friendship between them. Hope that's ok... :D x**

**PART 2**

"Martha?" came the voice of the Doctor. Her hand flew away from the door as she jumped backwards guiltily. He sounded accusing, and slightly snappy, and Martha knew she'd done wrong here.

She bit her lip, readied herself for a telling off, and turned to face him. "Doctor. Oh god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't being nosy, I just - "

He raised an eyebrow. "No?" he murmured, but he didn't sound angry, as such. He sounded sort of...lost. Broken.

She reflected on her words. "Well, ok, yes I was, but I just..." She trailed off, and he didn't say anything else either. That was when she noticed his eyes weren't really looking at her.

(Just like usual.)

His eyes were staring at the white door, glazed over, lost in a memory.

And she knew. She knew that he was thinking about Rose.

(Just like usual.)

His jaw set, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his hands were in fists at his side.

And she knew. She knew that he wasn't angry with her.

He was just trying not to cry.

(Just like usual.)

"Doctor?" Martha prompted, urging him to look her way.

He blinked, inhaled a deep breath, and cleared his throat. "Yeah?"

His eyes never moved from the door.

Martha knew she was treading on the most fragile of eggshells here, but she had to ask. She just had to.

"Was that Rose's room?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah, it is," he replied simply.

Is? Martha thought about what he said. _Is?_ Did he expect her to come back?

"It's locked," she said, a bit needlessly really.

"Yeah, it is," he repeated.

She looked at the floor for a few moments, contemplating what to say next.

"Were you trying to get in, then?" he asked her before she could speak again.

She shifted guiltily. "I just...I wanted to see what her room looked like. I've seen the others..." she trailed off again then, ashamed. "They all look so empty, like they weren't even lived in. If it weren't for a few belongings left in each, you wouldn't be able to tell who they belonged to."

Each word she uttered cut him inside, but she didn't seem to realise. "They don't stay for long," he whispered carefully.

Martha frowned uneasily. "Right. And...Rose? Was she here for longer, then?" She assumed she must've been, if her room's allocation and the fact that she was apparently so special was anything to go by.

He flinched. That was what cut him the most. "Oh, no. No. No, she...she wasn't here for nearly long enough."

"Did she..."

"They all left, Martha, one way or another. Either by their own choosing, and so they took their stuff with them, or by me sort of...well, taking them home, I suppose. And...and some died. And some were separated from me before they were ready to go, by the universes' dictation. Well. Some_one_," he explained, his eyes still fixated on the door.

"Rose?" Martha guessed.

He nodded, but barely. "She didn't want to leave. I didn't want her to leave. But she was taken from me, and now she's trapped in a parallel universe. Out of reach. It's impossible to get her back." He looked at the floor, blinking rapidly. "I've tried..." he started, but stopped with a cough when he couldn't continue his sentence.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. She was confused about the parallel part, but thought it prudent not to ask him what exactly he meant by that.

(She didn't want him to think she was stupid. Or...well. Not as clever as Rose.)

He carried on then, as though he never heard her. "I'll never see her again, and yet...well. Her things are still in her room, in exactly the place she left them. And if - by some impossible chance that the universe decides to be nice - she comes back to me, it'll be waiting."

He left the 'and so will I' out of the sentence, but Martha heard it anyway.

She blinked back tears. She was hearing more about the Doctor's past than she'd ever heard him speak of, although, that wasn't even much. But the way he spoke about Rose... Martha was left in no doubt that he missed his friend immensely. If that was all she was. A friend? Or more? Best friend, clearly, but anything more than that...? Martha didn't reckon he was the sort of man to...well, you know. He was an alien, for god's sake! Did they even...do that? Martha didn't know. However much she fancied him, and hoped he'd feel the same, she'd never had an indication that he even considered that sort of thing – with anyone. But then, that first time she'd come on the TARDIS, when he'd told her that she wasn't replacing Rose, he'd also said that they had been together. Together? What did that mean, exactly? 'And we...we were together.' That's what he had said. Did he mean, as friends...or as _together _together? Had they been...

She shifted uncomfortably. She wanted to know. "Doctor," she began quietly. "Was Rose your...were you and her...?"

The Doctor ignored her half-question, instead walking past her and opening the white door easily.

Martha wasn't surprised; this was his ship, and so it probably unlocked it for him. She watched him step inside, unsure of whether he meant for her to follow him, but doing it anyway. She hesitated in the doorway, her eyes widening at what she saw inside.

Firstly, she was astounded at the way the room was the complete opposite to every other bedroom she'd seen. It was full and vibrant and cluttered and lived-in, with makeup covering a dressing table, a bra hanging over the mirror, clothes strewn across the floor messily, one of the wardrobe doors open, a towel draped over a chair, pale pink walls with photos stuck on them haphazardly... Martha stepped forward, looking at said photos. She saw various people she didn't recognise, but several had the Doctor in them, his arm wrapped around a young blonde's shoulders.

Right.

There we go then.

That must be her.

They were smiling happily in the photos. Beaming. Laughing.

Martha had never been fortunate enough to see him smile like that, and a lump came to her throat.

But the girl...

Rose. Blonde. Young. Quite pretty, she supposed. Big, brown eyes, but too much mascara. Looked a bit...rough around the edges in some photos. Not what she was expecting, to be honest, from the way he spoke about her. Nor was her room, really. She didn't really know what to expect, but a young estate girl in sloppy jeans with a messy room and a couple of cuddly toys on an unmade bed had not been it.

And yet she was obviously the most special girl in the world to him. Maybe even the entire universe, she thought dryly.

She glanced at the Doctor. He was sitting on the edge of Rose's bed with something in his hands and a small, sad smile on his face. She couldn't see what it was, and stepped forward to look, when something else caught her eye. Hanging over the bedpost of Rose's double bed was a tie. A man's tie. A Doctor tie.

Ah.

Then she noticed something else. Another door. She would've assumed it was an ensuite bathroom if she hadn't already pieced together the fact that the Doctor's room was next door. She turned and walked towards that instead, and twisted the handle before the Doctor even realised what she was doing. And sure enough, Rose's room was adjoined with another. One with an immense collection of books scattered about, along with a suit jacket and various pieces of what she could only describe as futuristic technology. She walked over to the left hand side bedside table and her breath hitched. There, quite clearly on top of a copy of Pride and Prejudice, lay a white mug with pink spots. Next to it was a few bits of jewellery – a necklace, bracelet and pair of earrings. A used make-up wipe lay forgotten on the floor by the table. The chair in the corner was home to a red zip-up hoodie and a denim skirt.

All of this, Martha knew, did not belong to the Doctor. Especially not the denim skirt...

**...**

**A/N: ...or so she thought...**

**lol, jokes, you know who's it is really :D**

**Thanks for all the feedback on the first chapter, my lovely readers. Hope you liked this one.**

**Love Laura xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**PART 3**

"This is your room," she stated quietly when she sensed him enter.

"Yes," he replied.

"Her stuff is in here. And that room's hers. And your stuff is in there," she stated bluntly.

"Bits and pieces, yeah."

"Her mug and bedtime read – she slept here too," Martha said next, gesturing to the items on the bedside table. "On the left," she murmured.

She didn't get a response to that.

"You had your own sides of the bed," she noted, urging him to answer her.

"Bit domestic that," he chuckled quietly.

"And yet true," she prompted. She turned and looked him in the eye meaningfully.

He swallowed thickly. "Why are you doing this?" he asked her. It wasn't accusing or demanding, it was just curious, and yet held a certain hint of desperation within it all the same. Because...well. It was painful, sharing all of this with Martha. He came here alone; his and Rose's bedrooms, and never did he feel like sharing his memories and thoughts with someone else. He'd lay on her bed or his – theirs, he supposed, really – and remembered and dreamt and lost himself in his thoughts of Rose, and he didn't want something so personal being talked about like this. But he knew the moment he hadn't stopped Martha from coming into these rooms that he wouldn't be able to stop her questions.

He simply found he hadn't the energy to argue.

"I'm sorry," Martha apologised sincerely. "I know this is horrible of me. I just wanted to know, that's all. She sounded so amazing, the way you talked about her, and - "

"I know," he muttered. "I know. It's ok." He sat down on the floor then, his back leaning against the wall. He was still clutching something in his hand, while his other ran through his hair then rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"What's that?" she asked, coming to sit next to him. She frowned when she saw that it was simply a CD. "Doctor?" she prompted, confused.

"It's a..." he paused, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "It's a DVD. Rose made it. She filmed us."

Martha's eyes widened and the Doctor quickly realised she'd gotten the wrong end of the stick. "No no no no, not like _that,"_ he assured her, letting out a laugh – a genuine one, this time, because the look on Martha's face was really rather hysterical to witness.

"Oh," she exhaled. "I was going to say – bit too much information," she laughed.

He smiled. "She filmed a few of the places we visited. I got her a video camera for Christmas, and she immediately started to film all sorts of things – adventures and other stuff, like simply messing around on the TARDIS."

Martha raised an eyebrow, her lips curving up.

"Not like _that," _he said again. Then he frowned, thinking suddenly. "Actually, I dunno, maybe she did, but I've never seen - " he paused, realising he probably shouldn't be contemplating that out loud. Especially considering the fact that Martha was looking at him strangely at that moment. "Anyway," he said, clearing his throat. "It's all on here. Along with a little message she left me. I didn't see it until she was...well, until she was gone."

"What did it say? The message?"

He exhaled roughly. "Goodbye," he answered, his voice broken and high-pitched.

Martha frowned. "But how did she know she - "

"She didn't," he interrupted. "It was a 'just in case.' An 'I hope you never have to watch this, but...'"

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair again and sniffed, avoiding Martha's eye.

(He didn't want her to have to see him cry.)

Martha tried to reach for his hand but he pulled away and stood up. "I should..." he began. Then, he shook his head, turned abruptly, and walked through the door that joined the two bedrooms, closing it deftly behind him in a way that made it clear to Martha not to follow this time.

She let out a long sigh. Right. So, she'd figured it all out, at least. She knew what Rose had looked like – well, still looked like – and how her room was still ready and waiting. And, by the looks of things, so was his. And so was he.

Martha hated to think she was simply a stand-by. Someone to stop him going too far until his real protector came along. Well, until she came _back._ But nevertheless she knew she had to stay. Who knew what he'd do if he didn't have the excuse of looking after Martha, and showing her the wonders of the universe? He'd probably just curl up in a ball on Rose's – their – bed. Or go out and cause a war of some sort. Yeah, that was more likely. And Martha couldn't let him do that. She didn't think he'd even care if he died...and what if, somehow, Rose did come back? Only to find he'd self-destructed? No. Martha had to stay and keep an eye on him.

(For once, since the first time he mentioned her, Martha was not feeling envious of Rose, because she was here with the Doctor and Rose wasn't. And that just wasn't fair. And Martha believed that she had to stay until he got _her_ back. The one he really saw when he looked in her direction.)

She glanced at the floor then. He'd dropped the DVD when he stood up, and obviously forgot about it. No. No, she doubted he'd forget about it. Maybe he thought he'd put it in his pocket. Or...maybe he left it there on purpose? Martha wasn't sure, but she was going to watch it anyway. Her heart couldn't possibly break anymore from watching it.

**...**

**A/N: Short chapter, I know :S Well, I guess they're all rather short chapters in this story, actually. But I reckon someone said once that good things come in a small packages, so hopefully this fits that criteria lol :D It's just the format I'm writing this in, I guess, short and (bitter)sweet ;P Anyways, hope you liked. Lovesya xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**PART 4**

Ha. Famous last words. Her heart couldn't possibly break anymore...That's what she had thought. But now she was watching it; tears in her eyes, a hand clutching her chest because it was all so sad, because they were both so _happy._ On all those adventures. Everything. Even when there are videos of the Doctor, Rose and two people she didn't know but soon learnt are Mickey and Jackie, Rose's friend – ex-boyfriend? - and mother, in a small flat that she assumed was Rose's home. Well, her old home. The TARDIS is obviously her rightful place, Martha thought. All her stuff was on board the Doctor's ship, and there was no denying that with him was where she belonged. That only made it even more painful. Knowing that she could never replace her, because Rose _had_ been different from all the rest. She'd been closer to the Doctor than anyone, and he hadn't pushed her away; she'd been separated by a cruel twist of fate.

And the videos – they showed them to be so happy together. What a horrible thing to happen, for their time to be cut short like it was. Martha could see, in their eyes and they way they acted around each other; they way the spoke to others and yet always to each other; the way one of their faces would light up as the other entered their vicinity, and frown whenever they weren't in touching distance...she could see their feelings for each other as clear as day.

She'd never seen two people ignore the rules of personal space and the boundaries of friendship, and that was even before they had become..._like that. _Martha worked out the point, via the videos, where they had indeed become more than just good friends, going by the fact that in many, Rose and the Doctor had caught eyes and smiled almost shyly, blushing and looking away to avoid admitting what they already knew. She could practically feel the unresolved sexual tension radiating from them, and couldn't believe they were being so stupid in wasting so much time. But then, in another video, everything was intensified. The hugging, the hand-holding, a brush of an arm, or a knee, as they stood or walked or ran or sat closely next to each other.

And in this particular one, they were in Jackie's flat again. Rose was lying on the sofa flicking through a magazine, oblivious to the camera following her every movement from the hallway. And Martha could see it all, because Mickey was filming, and close to the video camera, so that they wouldn't hear him or notice he was filming, he whispered conspiratorially, in a David Attenborough-wildlife-documentary style voice, "And here, maybe, just maybe...do we see a Time Lord going in for its prey..." Martha watched as the Doctor walked purposefully from another room, over to stand by Rose.

"Rose," he said shortly, and she looked up at him, a smirk playing heavily on the features of her face. This look, Martha imagined, was her teasing look, and she could see that it would be easy to find attractive, if she were a man. Or alien. Or gay. Whichever.

"This has to stop," he told Rose gravely, and the young woman looked about ready to burst into giggles. What 'this' was, Martha had no idea, but Rose had evidently played some sort of trick on him, and he was retaliating.

"Yes, it does," she agreed, a bubble of laughter escaping her.

"Rose," he said warningly. "This isn't funny."

She poked her tongue out at him, and he swiftly grabbed her arms and hauled her upwards. A frown flickered across her face for a moment, as if she was wondering whether he'd really just done that, but then her teasing smile was back and she was standing in front of him, so close that Martha imagined they could feel each other's body heat radiating off them.

"Rose," he said again, in an altogether different tone than before. He spoke low and quiet and in a way that made Martha blush, though not quite knowing why.

Rose's expression changed then, from teasing to hopeful. Her eyes searched his for some sort of clue as to where this was going. Even Martha was holding her breath in anticipation, and so was Mickey, she noticed. She reckoned he was filming this to later show them proof of what _should _happen next, even if it didn't. It seemed like a tangible enough reason, rather than leaning towards the peeping tom side of things. From the videos, Martha could see that Mickey was a good friend, who loved Rose, and yet he was probably sick to death of watching them dance around each other all the time. Probably because he was a bit jealous.

To Martha's surprise, Rose could possibly be the one responsible for instigating their next movements. The young blonde found his hand and intertwined their fingers, her thumb softly stroking his. And that was what seemed to spur him into action.

Still completely unaware of anyone watching, he tilted his head and leant his forehead against Rose's gently. "Rose," he repeated once more, as soft as a whisper.

"Yes?" she murmured, biting her lip in apprehension as he laid his hand not intertwined with hers on her hip.

"I..." he began, then faltered, and instead pulled her closer to him and captured her lips in a rather thorough kiss that left them both breathless.

Rose pulled back and cleared her throat. "Excellent point, well made," she said sincerely, and then she giggled.

Then Mickey the Secret Cameraman accidently sneezed, and the Doctor and Rose leapt away from each other quickly. Martha heard Mickey, still filming their embarrassed faces, say, "Too late. Got all the evidence already."

"Mickey!" Rose shrieked, realising he'd taped the whole thing. She lunged towards him, and the last thing Martha saw was the shot shaking as Rose tried to get the camera off of Mickey. The last thing Martha _heard_ was the Doctor laughing. It was beautiful. And then the screen went black.

**...**

**A/N: Helloooo! Back from hols, but only 'til tuesday, then I'm off again, camping :D...Anyways, h****ope you liked this chapter :) Please review x**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Last chapter now. Hope you enjoy x**

**PART 5**

But it wasn't black for long. Almost immediately, another video began. And another after that. And so on. In one, the Doctor and Rose were on a beach, and they took turns in holding the camera. Martha watched as they appeared so carefree, building sandcastles, sunbathing, splashing each other in the purple – purple? – ocean..."Careful! Watch the camera!" she'd squealed as he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her into the water...the three suns in the sky beating down as he told her about the planet and all its wonders. Another showed them in London, walking through thick snow and throwing snowballs at each other, their cheeks flushed and their smiles happy.

In one video, the Doctor was behind the lens, waiting outside a door. When it opened to reveal Rose, dressed in a short towel but nothing else, Martha swallowed thickly and thought about looking away, but suddenly found she couldn't, because she was hooked on watching their every interaction with each other. They way they looked at each other. Everything about them. Martha wished she had something even half as lovely as that with a man as wonderful as him.

"Oi! What are you doing lurking outside the bathroom?" Rose exclaimed, jumping back in surprise.

"Looking for something," he replied cheekily.

"Oh really," she said dubiously.

"Yep! And I just found it," he told her, walking closer. The camera fell to the floor and Martha heard Rose say: "Hey, you'll break that one day; you keep doing that," and him reply: "Well, you shouldn't be so distracting then," before the screen fizzled out.

Ha! – so much for 'not like _that,' _Doctor, Martha thought.

More and more recordings flickered to life then faded out. Martha sat and watched them all in the TARDIS' TV room – for how many hours, she did not know. And then, eventually, she came to the last bit of DVD.

Rose's message.

The image of the blonde filled the screen, who attempted to adjust the zoom, ready to film herself. She appeared to set the camera down on what Martha assumed, from the position of her bed behind her, was her dressing table.

Rose cleared her throat and beamed at the lens happily. "Hello, only me!" she said cheerfully. "So, I made this DVD of all of the stuff we've filmed, so that you can have it all on one disk. I thought it'd be nice, you know. Like...well. You can keep it, after...after I'm gone. And...you know. Watch it. If you wanted? To remember all the fantastic, brilliant times we had," she continued, her eyes bright and her smile wide. "And I thought it'd be nice to leave you a message, too. In case I never get the chance to tell you some stuff before I..." Rose faltered then, her voice wavering, but her smile staying firm on her face. Martha could tell it was forced. "...go."

Martha clutched a cushion to her chest and waited, her heart going out to the poor girl on the screen who didn't yet know that she'd be gone so very soon.

"So..." Rose began again. "Um...well, I don't know where to start, really. I s'pose I just wanna say thanks. For everything. It's all wonderful and I love every second of this life with you. I know that I'd never leave you, so if you're watching this, it obviously means you've chucked me out," she paused, giggling a bit. Then her gaze shifted from the direction of the camera, and she swallowed visibly, her demeanour turning from cheerful to sombre. Then she appeared to check herself, as if realising that she had to keep this light-hearted, otherwise, when the Doctor saw it, he'd feel terrible. "Or I've been eaten by a Trefof or something," she finished, looking back at the camera, smiling again with a raised eyebrow and a subsequent wink.

Martha swallowed thickly. She had no idea what a Trefof was, but there was evidently a story or shared joke there somewhere between the Doctor and Rose. And from the look on Rose's teasing face, Martha thought she knew what it involved.

(It was easily predictable that they had been shagging like rabbits. Probably in all sorts of places, on all sorts of planets. Maybe an alien stumbled in on them once or twice. That was highly likely.)

"So yeah. Thank you," Rose continued. "And you know that I..." she faltered and took a deep breath. "You know that I love you. So much."

As Martha watched a tear roll down Rose's cheek, her own tears started to fall. This was more heartbreaking that flipping _Titanic, Atonement, The Notebook _and _PS I Love You _put together.

"So don't feel guilty. Please, Doctor, don't feel guilty if something happens to me. Because I've never been so happy as I've been with you, so even if I...well, even if die 'before my time' or whatever, don't feel it's your fault, or that you should've sacrificed yourself to save me or something, because I'd rather die than be without you," Rose said, and Martha let out a sob. Oh my _god, _she thought. When he watched this, he must've felt awful. What if...in her parallel world...if she can't live without him, then would she...?

"But don't worry," Rose laughed, as if realising how he might take that last sentence. "Cos if we're...I dunno, separated or whatever, I won't have time to do myself in because I'll be trying to get back to you. Forever. However impossible that may be. And don't feel bad about _that, _either – I know what you're like, but _don't,_ because I'd rather 'waste' my life trying to get back to you and maybe failing – which I won't, by the way, because someone once told me that I'm fantastic - than pretend to be happy in a life I'm not supposed to live."

That answered Martha's question, and she let out a breath of relief. Surely that must've given the Doctor some hope, then? Her never giving up meant that he could never give up, right?

"Well. I think that's it, really," Rose said, and let out a giggle. "Um...ooh, I know. You're fantastic. And do you know what? So am I," she proclaimed with a decisive nod, and Martha got the impression that she was reusing his words or something. Rose's eyes lit up with mischief as she leant closer to the lens. "In more ways than one."

Martha rolled her eyes. Bloody hell, she thought. Inflate both their egos much...

Rose beamed into the camera, and then her smile disappeared. "Oh, I think you're coming. Right. Better go, then. Don't want you finding this before...or, if it's not necessary for you to...anyway. Bye, Doctor." She smiled gently. "I love you."

And then the screen went black. For good, this time. No more videos. No more Rose.

Martha stared silently at the blank screen for a good five minutes, biting her thumb and trying to control herself.

She stood up shakily, throwing the cushion to the floor in frustration. She understood, now. And she felt terrible for them both. And for herself.

Why was the universe so _unfair?_ she thought.

Then she said it out loud. Well. Shouted it. "Why is the universe so _unfair?"_

"It just is," she heard the Doctor mumble behind her, and she swung around to look at him.

Then, she flung herself into his arms and held onto him as she cried. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her too, once again trying to swallow past the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest.

"Not your fault."

Martha pulled back, and hastily wiped at her eyes. "She's coming back, though. Right?"

"It's impossible."

"But she _said._ She said she'd never give up. She sounded pretty stubborn about that..."

"Yeah, that's her all over. Stubborn," chuckled the Doctor.

"Then she won't let a thing like parallel universes or whatever get in her way. She'll come back."

"Maybe," he shrugged.

"She _will," _persisted Martha.

"She'd better," agreed the Doctor at last, and he let out a laugh. "Yeah. Course she will. Can't get rid of Rose Tyler that easily."

Martha smiled. "She seems lovely, by the way. I'm sorry I was so..."she trailed off. "Do you think she'd like me?" asked Martha suddenly.

"Yeah, of course she would. You'd get along great. Although, I reckon I'd be at a disadvantage, if you two became friends, 'cos then everything would be two against one. And two women against one man, at that. And that is one battle I'm truly terrified of. It'd be all, 'let's go shopping' or 'let's have a pamper night' or 'let's watch a chick flick' or - "

" – yeah, get the picture, Doctor," giggled Martha.

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"For just...keeping me on track," he mumbled, averting his eyes.

"No problem."

...

And Martha knew that as much as she loved him, she would never be more than just a good friend to him. And for the first time, she was actually perfectly content with that.

...

_The end._

**A/N: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I wanted to make a story where Martha would finally understand about Rose, and so make her less jealous and bitter whenever he mentioned her. I think that in the real show, if she'd really **_**known **_**about why Rose was so special to him, then she would've been more mature and sensitive about it, rather than seeming like a whining, lovestruck little girl as she did at times. She was a twenty-something medical student, after all, so I don't think for a moment that they got her characterisation quite right in the show, which is why a lot of Ten/Rose fans hate her unnecessarily, in my opinion.**

**Anyways, hope this was ok :D Thanks for all your alerts and comments so far, I really appreciate it :)**

**Please review and let me know what you think of the final chapter x**


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